Pedro José Pérez Vázquez

La adquisición de competencias para la innovación productiva en la universidad española

This paper examines the production function relationship between the educational resources applied during study and the development of competences related to innovation by university graduates in Spain. The data set comes from the European graduate survey REFLEX and includes about 5500 individuals. The inputs, combining with students’ effort, are represented by the methods of teaching and learning used in higher education. The relationships are modelled through a set of stochastic frontier equations with compound disturbance term. Estimates show evidence of significant relationships between the development by graduates of competences to innovate and the methods of teaching and learning they were exposed to during their university years. Proactive methods, in general, and problem-based learning in particular, appear as the most effective way to develop the competences required to innovate. The effects of the other inputs are less intense than those of teaching method. There were not found significant effects attributable to student unobserved ability.